New Ireland
is an island north of New Britain. It is one of the
provinces of Papua New Guinea, and the administrative center is
Kavieng.
The island is around 320 kilometers long, but most of it is no wider
than 6 to 10 kilometers. It has probably been inhabited for at least
30,000 years, and the population today is around 90,000 people.

Around twenty languages are spoken in New Ireland, all of them
Austronesian with the exception of Kuot, currently studied by
Eva Lindström,
who works in the west coast village of
Bimun.

Tourist Links

... and, of course,
Eva Lindström's
“background information for travellers, field workers
and visitors to New Ireland”. Covers kinship and social structure,
food, gifts, clothes, malaria and other stuff from someone who has lived there.
Don't miss it!